


Príncipe de la Lluvia (Prince of Rain)

by FantasyPunchPunk



Category: Princess Tutu, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura is Rue, Allura/Shiro (Voltron) - Freeform, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Princess Tutu, F/M, Hunk is Pike, I know just wait for the explanation, Imma link, Keith is Fakir, Lance is Duck, M/M, One-Sided Lance/Shiro (Voltron), Pidge is Lilie, Shiro is Mytho, They're a little out of character to fit with Princess Tutu, Zarkon is the Raven, based off a tumblr post, but they're cute - Freeform, cuz they're both little sadist gremlins sometimes, it's gonna be so juicy, princess tutu au, shallura - Freeform, so eh, the art is so pretty, y'all know where this is going, you guys gotta see it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-01-07 03:08:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12224502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FantasyPunchPunk/pseuds/FantasyPunchPunk
Summary: Lance just wants to return Shiro's heart... and maybe he'll get it back in return.But stupid, heartless, ponytail mullet Keith keeps stopping him. Seriously, what's his deal?!!Voltron: Legendary Defender in a (kind of) Princess Tutu tale.





	1. A Man Who Died

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Read this small fic if you dare:](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/326502) by never2late2smile. 



> This is the post that first inspired me, while the link above was the nail in the coffin for me writing out this AU: http://never2late2smile.tumblr.com/post/165083300654/hello-id-like-to-post-some-doodles-of-my-old
> 
> And some awesome artwork from the same person, never2late2smile! http://never2late2smile.tumblr.com/post/165408642274/more-sketchy-prince-tutu-doodles-testing-out-some Fierce Allura is bae. And tiny evil Pidge is life.

Once upon a time, there was a man who died.

The man's work was the writing and telling of stories, but he could not defy death.

The last story he was working on was about a brave and handsome Prince who vanquishes a crafty tyrannical Raven King.

But now it seems their battle will go on for eternity.

"I'm sick and tired of this," cried the Raven King.

"I'm sick and tired of this," cried the Prince as well.

The Raven King escaped from the pages of the story and the Prince pursued the foul creature.

In the end, the Raven King ate the Prince's right arm but the Prince managed to take out his own heart and sealed the Raven King away by using a forbidden power.

Just then, a murmur came from somewhere.

"This is great," said the old man who was supposed to have died, stroking his mustache.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I'm not old," yells the old man, shaking his fist.
> 
> I used google translate for the title, please tell me if it's wrong.
> 
> The characters of Voltron: Legendary Defender belong to Dreamworks and in no way are mine, I just wanted to borrow them for a bit.


	2. Shadows and Silhouettes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mr. Cat stays Mr. Cat because he is completely unique and because I have no desire to have one of the Voltron characters harass people to marry them.
> 
> And before ANY OF YOU start ragging on me about Keith being mean, keep reading. Just like actual people, there's more beneath that surface. And for those of you who might be disappointed he's not 'Fakir-enough', I said this was a Princess Tutu-ISH tale, so I'm gonna remix a few things. But don't worry, it's gonna be good. I hope.

It's not cold, though it should be. The fog that hangs suspended over the mirror-still surface of the pond is thick enough to almost completely obscure the broad silhouettes of old oak trees that stand like sentinels at the water's edge. If it weren't for him being right next to them, the little duck swimming calmly in that pond is sure he wouldn't be able to see the flimsy water reeds that are quiet and still, collecting dew where they normally sway and sing in tune with the wind. Instead, large bells in the distance ring ominously in their place.

And yet.

The little duck turns its blue eyes out into the fog with a faint quack where they easily find a tall broad figure. Not one of the trees, no. A young man. He spins and reaches, bends and stretches, dancing. Very limberly for someone so muscled. His dainty steps ripple the surface of the pond.

The little duck sighs, eyes glued to him. _I want... I want to dance with him too. With the Prince._

The Prince slows his movements in time with the music in his mind that the little duck can almost hear just by looking at him, gracefully, with poise befitting a human.

 _But I'm a duck,_ the little duck thinks to himself. _In voice and looks. Just a duck. I can't dance with him, I can't even hold his hand._

Idle on the water, the little duck's eyes meet the Prince's as he glances at him in the middle of shifting poses. The little duck's convey a blue rainbow, from yearning to melancholy; while the Prince's are empty dull silver pools.

_And the Prince's eyes always look so lonely._

The Prince's silhouette moves in the fog, a doll pulled by the invisible strings of silent music.

_Won't you laugh? Please show me your smile, my Prince._

The Prince halts and the little duck perks with a curious quack. He then rises up en pointe and begins to pirouette, silhouette getting fainter and fainter as he disappears into the mist, taking the little duck's small amount of cheer at his presence with him.

He quacks softly in a sad tone.

~~ _Well, well. You care for him, don't you?_ ~~

The duck perks to attention at the voice and he looks around. He didn't think that was the Prince... Who spoke just then?

~~ _A little duck like you..._ ~~

He looks around more for the source of the voice but goes still as the sunlight that filters down through the fog disappears altogether, making the pond suddenly much more creepy...

He absolutely freezes when the feathers on the back of his neck stand on end.

_...Nope. Not gonna turn around, nope. That has bad idea written all over it._

Instead, the duck closes his eyes on a deep breath and hangs his head, he opens them on the exhale- and goes pale. As much as a duck could.

There in the water are angry turquoise eyes, ringed turquoise eyes, each ring circling the other to make up the iris. They push and pull the little duck just by looking, dizzying him to the point that lightheadedness is added onto his fear and his feathers fluff up even further in anticipation. What were these eyes that were powerful enough to weaken him with a look going to do to him?

The water clears in an instant. Revealing the eyes to be upside-down and smiling, a big orange mustache dimpling them from above in a very wide smile and daylight returns to shine a spotlight on them. Lightly wrinkled features amplify this person's intensely interested face to the point the little duck is startled into fleeing, flapping his wings frantically and skipping across the water crying, " _Aaaaahhhh! Monster!_ "

He pauses when he no longer feels water under him and looks down. Down to the wooden floor of his room far beneath him. Yelling as gravity catches up with him, his feet hook on the edge of his loft bed space and he flips head over heels before he lands harshly on his back.

Groaning a bit, he gently presses a few spots on his head to make sure he didn't hit it too hard and grimaces when his back twinges painfully. "Guess I should get up."

The morning is just as cold as Lance's dream should've been and the sun has to fight a few clouds to bring the people its light but other than that it's pleasant and Lance finds an urge to sing as he taps out some fish flakes for his aquatic friends in their tank and gets together a bowl of birdseed for his feathered friends.

"Mor-ning has come again to our dorm-i-to-ry~! At Gold Crown Aca-de-my it's ti-ime to wake up~!" There are a few tired groans for him to shut up and banging on the walls to counter Lance's statement, but even if he wanted to sing louder just to annoy them he's swarmed by small birds as soon as he opens the window and his focus shifts to them.

He beams and chimes, "Good morning!" The swarm presses closer once they see the food. "Ah! Guys, wait-!" Too late. They fly close enough to him that he tips over and falls on his rear in his attempt to keep from accidentally knocking them out of the air. Resigned but fond, he slowly holds up the bowl of food, little heads turning side to side to track it, and puts it down on the bench in front of the window. The swarm immediately disperses from him to regather around the bowl, chirping happily and perching nearby as they wait for an opportunity to swoop in and get some for themselves.

Hair and clothes now askew and scattered with feathers of various colors, Lance sighs at the extra time added to his morning routine. Still, he stands up smiling as he brushes off the feathers and straightens his uniform jacket and tie as best he can without ready access to a mirror and looks over his little flock to see who's all come to visit.

"Oh, Java, your leg is all better," he says to a tiny coffee brown bird. "It's nice to see you again. Hey, Tio!" he directs to a medium sized bird with black around his beak that reminds him of an Uncle's beard. "Don't go gobbling it all yourself." The bird ignores him and continues his haphazard pecking, trying to get every seed in his reach.

A little yellow bird flies up right in front of him and he directs the full force of his smile at her as he holds up a finger for her to land on. "Canary Mom," he greets, "Your kids are gonna be leaving the nest soon, aren't they?" She chirps an affirmative. "When they learn to fly, bring them with you! I'd love to be able to meet them!"

Eyes wandering to the dormitory across the courtyard, Lance's cheeks flush at the thought of a certain upperclassman. Gaze returning to Canary Mom who gives him a curious head tilt, he leans in and whispers conspiratorially, "So, what was Shiro up to?"

Canary Mom tilts her head to the other side with a quiet chirp and then flies down to the bowl to get her and her babies fill.

"I had another good dream," he announces to all of them at large. He climbs up to lean partway out the window and get a closer look at the neighboring dormitory. "I mean yeah, me being a duck again really sucked but at least I got to see Shiro. Him being the Prince was almost too perfect!"

Seeing the curtains in a certain window move, Lance's smile turns sappy. "Good morning, Shiro~" he calls quietly.

His stomach turns to lead as the large bell tower to his right begins to toll. "Shit."

The birds scatter away from him as he flies out of his room, barely managing to grab his books in his rush. "Shit," he hisses again, feet flying faster the more the bell sounds. He sends an angry look at the doors to his friends' rooms as he flies past them. "Some friends you are, Hunk, Pidge! Left without me and now I'm gonna be late!"

Said friends shuffle out of their rooms in their pajamas at the yell of their names and blink at each other tiredly before looking down the hall in the direction Lance sped off in.

"Isn't it only six o'clock?" Hunk asks.

"Scatterbrain, nothing new," Pidge returns, taking advantage of not having her glasses on to scrub heavily at her eyes. "You'd think he would've known he wasn't late given he's the one who woke the whole building." She yawns. "Basically, he's an idiot and I'm going back to bed."

"You're gonna end up being late," he calls to her retreating back.

"Then bang on your wall just before you leave or something and then I'll catch up." She shuts her door.

"Why are my friends like this?" Hunk sighs as he goes back to his own room.

Exiting the dormitory, Lance runs hell-for-leather across the courtyard and out of the gate, swerving right to head down the cobblestone street that runs parallel to the school. Huffing and puffing, Lance wonders to himself, _Why a duck of all things? My name is Lance, even if I would end up being inanimate I would still rather be a lance than a duck._ His eyes begin to sparkle. _And if Shiro is the Prince he'd need some kind of weapon, right? Why not a lance? At least then, even if it's as a prop, I could dance with him. Man, I'd give up my life for just one dance._

Fanboying to himself, Lance completely misses the sudden intense gaze that sweeps over him, when normally it would give anyone who felt it unease.

The lovestruck giggle that slips out of him without permission is what brings him back to his senses and he resumes his sprint to school swearing angrily at himself for his short attention span with every step. The houses that blur by him on his right give to the large clear moat that surrounds the towering castle-like main building of the school. He again swings right and scampers across the bridge, racing around the main building to one of the smaller ones sheltered behind it, a cheery pastel yellow that normally brightens his day but now only gives him the small relief that he's here as he zips inside the building.

He changes quickly in the boy's locker room and shoves his stuff into his cubby then hurries to the studio, only tripping once and even managing to right himself before he can hit the ground.

He winces as he comes to a stop before the door and timidly pushes it open, "Sorry I'm late--" He cuts himself off when he notices the empty room. _Nobody's here._ He steps inside, hoping to find a notice or something that said ballet was cancelled for the day, and shuts the door behind him.

As soon as the latch clicks, Lance's ears prick to the machinations of the Grinder Organ beginning to play. Turning his head, Lance's breath catches at the person standing from the crank.

_Shiro..._

Lance watches in open-mouthed awe as Shiro dances to the music, limbs graceful and eyes emptily focusing on nothing. A blush steadily grows on Lance's face as Shiro goes through pose after pose, motion after motion, muscles stretching and pulling with every move but easily moving him as he wishes.

Complete body control. Something Lance envies and admires, being the klutz he is, and Shiro's mastery of it leaves him spellbound.

When Shiro executes a perfect leap, Lance can't help his wondrous gasp of, "Wow..."

Landing, Shiro's eyes turn to him, one shadowed under his white fringe, and Lance immediately covers his mouth, berating himself for speaking and ruining his chance to see that lovely performance.

"I'm sorry," he says, voice echoing in the spacious room. "I, um, er..." Lance falters under the steady blank stare and though he doesn't look away, he gradually begins to talk faster and faster as his voice rises in pitch, "Aaaam I bothering you? I'm bothering you, aren't I? I mean, of course I am. Here you are just trying to practice and I'm over here staring at you like a creep- and _what the heck am I saying,_ " he laughs out nervously. "YouknowwhatI'mjustgoingtogo-" He turns, but it seems his feet don't get the memo to start moving when they should and his upper half leans forward while his lower half is literally a step behind and he trips over himself.

Lance questions the universe and all of its vagaries as time slows his harrowing doom just long enough for him to find that the answers will always be unfair- and then there's a soft thump and warmth at his back and cold under his legs.

Lance pauses and when he looks up to see Shiro's face above him, his brain stalls... and then goes into overdrive.

_Shiroisholdingme!Shiroisholdingme!Shiroisholdingme! Shiro is actually holding me!!! AAAAAAAHHH!!! I take it back, nothing is ever unfair. The universe works in my favor and I am #Blessed._

Lance's thoughts grind to a halt when Shiro's eyes meet his and he swoons internally.

 _His eyes are so beautiful, oh my god. I could get lost in them forever. But..._ His thoughts take a somber turn, _they look so sad. The same as the Prince in my dreams._

And then reality dawns on him.

He chokes on half of a word that he has no clue as to what it was originally supposed to be and blood rushes to his head, making his ears ring and eyes swirl in dizziness. His body goes stiff as he reverts to babbling in Spanish, none of the words making any sense strung together in any language as he just blurts the ones most familiar on his tongue.

Defying the laws of physics and gravity, he drifts up and out of Shiro's arms, sitting seiza, and scooching back a couple feet with his toes, clutching his sweat towel to his chest and face cherry red. Shiro watches his escape blankly.

"I'm so _so_ sorry!" he returns to English. "I'm just giving you all kinds of trouble. I'm a real scatterbrain and I'm so bad about things, and I'm always too hasty and Hunk and Pidge say I sound like a duck, and I'm weird! I'm weird, right?! It's completely okay if you think I am!" All his frantic energy drains out of him in an instant, and he mumbles lowly, "Honestly, I think I'm weird too."

"Not really."

Lance's head snaps up, his eyes wide. "What? You don't think I'm weird?"

"Not really."

A cloud of steam obscures Lance's vision for a millisecond when his face heats up so fast and he falls to his side on the floor. "No one's ever said that about me before."

The door to the studio opens and a young man in Gold Crown's uniform peeks in, his eyes quickly falling on Shiro and he sighs quietly. "There you are."

Lance vaguely hears the voice but he's still too flustered to move right then.

"Keith."

Lance's ears perk up at Shiro's voice and he bolts upright when the name registers. _Keith?!_

Sure enough, it's the school's second most popular upperclassman, Keith Kogane. He stands in front of Shiro, who's still sitting on the floor, with his hands in his pockets and purple eyes peeking out of his messy dark bangs to rest on his peer.

"Didn't I tell you to let me know when you go out?" His brow is furrowed lightly, upset.

"Yes," Shiro answers emptily.

"It's time to head back. Stand up," Keith bids, and waits a moment for Shiro to do so. When he doesn't, Keith's brow furrows further. "What's wrong?"

"My ankle..."

"Your ankle?" His eyes dart to the one Shiro sits on, and he frowns. "Did you twist it?"

"Yes."

He frowns harder. "You idiot."

 _Wait, what?_ "What?!"

Keith turns to Lance and his eyes harden when they land on him, Shiro looks to him as well.

"Um, I mean, it's my fault." He clutches his towel tighter to himself. "He saved me when I tripped and--"

"What were you thinking?" Keith directs down at Shiro, cutting Lance off. "Doing something so meaningless."

"Like I said, he was protecting me--"

"And that's why _I_ said it was meaningless," Keith's eyes cut to Lance like a blade, angry and scolding. "Stand up," he again orders Shiro, moving to his side and helping him to his feet, lending his shoulder to the taller boy when he stumbles. "We're going back to the dormitory."

When Shiro follows the silent direction to lean his weight on him, Keith winces and brings his arms up to help steady them both. Seeing this, Lance straightens from his defensive curl and offers, "I can help you take him back."

Keith glances back to him but looks away dismissively and continues out the room without another backward glance.

For some reason, that hurt Lance more than any harsh words would and he scowls at Keith's retreating back. What did Pidge see in that guy?

"Meaningless..." he murmurs to himself. "That may be true but he didn't have to say it so rudely."

The knell of the school's bell echoes in the distance and Lance turns to the sound of it. "Huh? The bell again?"

He looks up and to the side while scratching his temple as he puzzles about the bell ringing again when it's already tolled, a gesture Hunk and Pidge imitate later on in class to tease him.

"You know, you wouldn't be nearly as confused if you just learned to check the clock before running around like a chicken with its head cut off," Pidge admonishes, slapping his arm reprimandingly.

Lance's face twists up. "You know I hate that turn of phrase."

"It's called negative reinforcement."

"I can't help it that I panicked, okay?"

"Yeah, Pidge. That's kind of Lance's thing."

"Thank you, Hunk," Lance says primly and continues stretching on the bar. He pauses. "Wait,--" He chokes out a strangled noise as Pidge then decides to casually lean on his back, forcing his chest down onto his propped up, straightened leg. "Owowowow."

"But you had the chance to actually _talk_ to Keith so I guess that's cool."

"Even though he's a jerk," Lance says, voice high with pain. He keens out an even higher, piercing sound of pain with a gaping mouth as Pidge leans into him harder, pushing him into a full split with his chest still on his leg.

"True, but I don't appreciate you talking bad about the coolest guy in school."

" _Shiro_ is the coolest _and_ the hottest," Lance grits out indignantly through his pain.

"But, dude, isn't Shiro dating Allura?" Hunk points out.

Lance's pained wails cut off abruptly as reality suddenly hurts much more than anything physical right then.

Seeing her torture is not having any effect, Pidge gets off of him and stands next to Hunk, both eyeing Lance sympathetically as they say in tandem, "A doomed crush, destined to end in heartbreak."

Tears streaming down his face for (mostly) dramatic effect, Lance turns and pouts at them. "I hate you both."

Pidge just sighs and shakes her head while Hunk walks up to his crying friend and pats his back, "I feel for ya, man."

Footsteps echo from beyond the studio door and the class turns to it as the teacher walks in.

"Teacher's here," Hunk warns, and Lance acknowledges it with a faint alright, as he drops his leg and turns.

He blanks when he sees the anthropomorphic feline in human clothing. "A cat?"

Evidently, he says this loud enough for the entire class to hear and they turn to him, including Hunk and Pidge.

"Dude, it's Mr. Cat," Hunk says, nudging him with an elbow. "Come on, don't get on his bad side."

"Uh, right..." Lance turns his attention to this 'Mr. Cat' as he claps his hands (paws?), gathering the students eyes to him.

"Alright, quiet down. If you don't quiet down," Somehow sweat manages to gather at the ends of his fur as his ear twitches, a disconcerting aura surrounding him. "I will have you marry me."

The entire class is deathly quiet and Lance makes a note to never get on this teacher's bad side because he is way too pretty to be married to a creepy cat he doesn't even know.

In his embarrassment, Mr. Cat begins to groom himself.

~

During the lesson, Lance's mind wanders to the depths of Shiro's eyes and that despite the profound capacity for emotion Lance just knows they can convey, all he's ever seen in them is loneliness.

Mr. Cat catches him when his mind is adrift and Lance swiftly apologizes before he can utter a word about having Lance marry him and he pays close attention to the rest of practice while Mr. Cat grooms his shame away.

"Alright now," Mr. Cat calls to the class sometime later. "Today we will be observing a performance by the special class."

Excited murmurs rise up as everyone gathers to sit in a line against one of the studio's mirrored walls, and Lance hugs his knees to himself in anticipation when he finally sits. The special class, who are basically all pros, are going to dance for them!

"Special class students," Mr. Cat calls when everyone is settled. "Please come in!"

They're all dressed in bolder colored leotards than the beginner class is the first thing Lance notices when they open the door and walk in. The second is the prideful expressions on all of their faces, all, except one.

Head down modestly, hair swept up in as neat of a bun as her unruly white locks will allow and dressed in a dark burgundy leotard, the young woman stands with refined poise and her sweat towel draped over one lithe arm.

Lance beams at the sight of her, happy to recognize someone he's vaguely familiar of. _That's Allura!_

Moving in sync, all the students of the special class move gracefully to the music, each with their own personalities shining through their dainty movements, but none more so gracefully than Allura, as her entire being performs a play of emotion. Her eyes, her arms, her legs; fierce, joyful, and piteous.

Lance is amazed. Of course, it's to be expected with Allura being the top student in the special class, but that only makes his amazement all the more justified.

"She's so good," Lance mutters to himself.

"Yup, nothing like you," Pidge startles Lance by saying, and when her words catch up Lance pouts angrily, making Pidge snicker and Hunk shush the two so he can watch undistracted.

The special class leaps one way and Allura jumps the other with a small enigmatic smile on her lips. En pointe, she steps carefully and then raises her arms and a leg into arabesque, looking out to her audience instead of at her hand.

Looking at her, Lance sighs forlornly. _I guess, for someone as great as Shiro, the only person who would be a good match would be someone like Allura._

A thought occurs to him and he jumps up, "Ah, what'll I do?"

Mr. Cat immediately turns to him, irate. "That's it! I can no longer handle any more of your interruptions. If you can't settle down, I'll have you marr--"

Hunk and Pidge quickly pull down an obliviously lost in thought Lance to sit, sending Mr. Cat innocent smiles.

"Aw man, Lance just gets so moved by these performances he can't help but uh, lament his own lack of talent, yeah," Hunk nods emphatically, agreeing with his own statement.

"Yup, Lance has a tendency to forget his manners in his excitement, we really hope that you'll forgive him."

They both give him apologetic smiles and he retreats to groom himself over another rejection.

 _I never apologized to Shiro for getting him hurt,_ is the source of Lance's true lament. He sets his face determinedly and closes his hands into fists. _I have to say sorry._

~

Lance stands unsurely at the flowered archway to the senior dorm, staring up at the crowned swan engraving over the door where a duckling with a circlet usually rests at his own dorm.

An image of a limping Shiro helped by Keith flashes through his mind and Lance shakes his head, giving the swan a defiant look before marching under the archway to the door.

Underclassmen aren't allowed in the senior dorms, but Lance is just going to apologize so it should be fine. It _should_ be fine, right? Yeah, totally fine.

_So why can't I just open the door?!_

Lance pulls his hand away from where it can't even _touch_ the door handle and threads both hands into his hair to tug at it. "Why am I such a coward?" he hisses to himself.

"You're in the way," a deep voice impatiently tells him, and Lance tenses defensively as he recognizes it.

He whips around to pout angrily at Keith, who glares at him boredly.

Lance takes a deep breath to push away his childish temper, _For Shiro. You can do this for Shiro._ When he opens his eyes, he gives Keith a sincere look, "Um, is Shiro--?"

"He's not here," Keith tells him dismissively, moving around him to get to the door.

Lance's eye twitches but he again pushes his irritation away _maturely_. "Then, do you know where I can--"

"Just go back to your dorm." He steps through the door and shuts it, but pauses when it doesn't close and there's a small 'ow' behind him.

He turns and sees Lance has squeezed himself just far enough into the door to prevent it from closing by using his entire arm up to his shoulder, part of his leg, and his head.

Through a wince, Lance asks Keith, "How's his injury?"

Keith's eyes soften marginally but his scowl doesn't leave. "It's not serious. Some ice and a few day's rest and he'll be fine."

Lance lets himself sigh in relief and then looks down at Keith determinedly. "I'd like to apologize to him--"

"It's fine. Just leave."

Offended, Lance moves out of the door to give Keith the full brunt of his irritated stare. "Are you this rude to everyone, or is it just me?"

In answer, Keith closes the door in his face.

Lance stares at the door in shock for a second and then his face melts into rage, any attempt at being 'mature' out the window as he glares where Keith's face was a moment before. "What a friggin' jerk!"

He turns and stomps back to his dorm, muttering, "Stupid, ponytail mullet meanie..."

~

Keith closes the door to their shared room, setting down his books on a near table and sighing when he sees his roommate out of bed and sitting at the window seat, staring outside.

"Shiro."

He turns, blank eyes meeting his. "Keith."

"You're supposed to be resting." Keith walks over and sits on the bed Shiro's supposed to be on.

"Sorry," he says, not looking sorry in the least. He's shirtless, an opportunity he takes whenever Keith says he can, and with ready access to it, Shiro's eyes drop down to the arm Keith's father made for him and Keith's eyes are drawn to it as well. All sleek metal outer plating and nearly silent inner clockwork that somehow moves the artificial joints as smoothly as any organic arm.

Keith's father is a genius with those kinds of things, but Keith thinks that Shiro knows deep down, no matter how great the arm is, it's not truly his. He can tell, even through the emotionless mien, because Shiro's eyes drift to that arm whenever he's not focused on something or thinks Keith isn't paying attention.

An image comes to Keith's mind, of Shiro curled up on his doorstep, lightly holding the bloody stump of his right arm and though his face shows no sign of pain, his body is flushed and he's soaked in sweat born from extreme pain.

Keith's eyes wander down to Shiro's current injury, loosely wrapped in cloth to discourage movement. "How's your ankle?"

Shiro curls the fingers of his mechanical hand into a lank fist and then uncurls them before finally looking away from it to Keith. He says nothing.

Keith looks up at him. "Does it hurt?"

"I don't know."

Keith sighs, and frowns when he recalls the scene he walked in on early that morning. "You've got to stop risking yourself to protect others," He can't even count the number of times Shiro has injured himself trying to help every small vulnerable creature in danger, it seems that now also applies to humans. "You're going to end up seriously hurt, you've got to stop."

Shiro blinks slowly. "Okay."

Keith sighs because he knows Shiro won't stop, he'll help no matter what because that's just... Shiro. "At least try to keep from hurting yourself."

"Okay."

Keith again sighs because he knows that acquiesce is just as empty as the last.

~

The night is quiet and, of course, dark. Even though the moon is full, the light it pours down to earth is nothing but a trickle. Only enough for thieves and tricksters to work confidently by. Lance is silhouetted by this light, sitting by his window in the white dress shirt and boxers he uses for pajamas. His hands prop up his chin, and the moon lights his eyes from within as they rest on the lit window he knows his crush lurks behind.

"I never did get to apologize to Shiro," he sighs to the patient moon. "I'm so stupid. I hope his injury _is_ actually okay, at least."

Silver pools glint in his mind, straight to his weeping heart.

"Such sad eyes... There's got to be some story behind that. There might not be anything I can do to help him but... But if there was _some_ way I could help him, if I could do anything at all to help him..."

The hopeful words stir the being behind the scenes, ears perked anxiously. Just one phrase... Just _that_ one, come on...

"I'd be willing to give my life for that," a breath from Lance's lips.

Turquoise eyes narrow in pleasure and a jovial chuckle echoes from everywhere at once. The trickle from the moon turns into a deluge and shadows and light exchange places like the next move in a choreographed dance. And all this happens in the time it takes Lance to blink.

He blinks again when he opens his eyes, wondering if he really should head to sleep but a sound catches his ear and tugs at it insistently as it grows in volume.

A laugh...

Something draws his attention down to the courtyard and he looks at it curiously.

A shadow...

No, it's moving. Something dangling from its hand swings side to side like the pendulum on a clock.

A person then.

"That person..." Lance mutters, and springs up from his seat, running outside.

By the time he gets down to the courtyard, no one is there.

"Gone..." he pants.

 ~~ _But I'm here,_~~ a voice says, unheard. The ticking of a clock also goes unnoticed by Lance's ears, but it's present, omnipresent, like the eyes watching him from the backstage of reality.

Lance straightens from where he had slumped over on his knees and looks around one more time. "I wonder who that was..."

 ~~ _Have you already forgotten about me?_~~ the voice asks.

"Something weird's going on here..."

~~_Do you want to know what? Do you_ really _want to know?_ ~~

~~~~Lance turns to head back inside, brow furrowed, when a whisper drifts past his ears, "Little duck~"

Lance whips around, "What--" No one there.

Another blink and the moon's light is drained to a trickle and the roar of the fountain in the center of the courtyard is loud in Lance's hearing, startling him into looking at it.

Backstage, turquoise eyes float in a shadowed frame surrounded by clockwork and the voice speaks freely, overjoyed that it's started to work again, "The water has begun to flow, the time has begun to pass."

 

The eyes narrow worriedly. "Now, let's tell a story... and give it a happy ending."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, good. I really wanted to get this out before my internet is cut off. I won't be able to reply for a whole month once it is, so sorry in advance for late replies.
> 
> My knowledge of ballet is limited to the terms focused on in Princess Tutu and the very small research I've done on certain poses (if that's even what they're called) so it's a given that I'm going to mess up at some point. If you're reading this and know anything about ballet and see I've said something wrong _please_ tell me so I can fix it. I want this to read smooth. If a professional ballet dancer decides to read this for funsies, I want them to not get hung up on the incorrect terminology and be able to enjoy it just as much as someone who has no prior knowledge of dance. So please please please help me out guys.
> 
> The characters of Voltron: Legendary Defender belong to Dreamworks and in no way are mine, I just wanted to borrow them for a bit.


	3. Remember

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is where things begin to stray and oh my god, you guys, _magic~_
> 
> And, this is for Elizalovesvoltron, you sweet lil' gumdrop! I don't think I can update this soon every time but luckily I've been working diligently! (This time.)

The next morning Keith adjusts the tie to his uniform while telling Shiro, “I’ll bring you back some books from the library when I get time between classes.”

Shiro is obediently in bed in his pajamas, not going to class today. “Okay.”

Keith meets his eyes seriously. “Do _not_ read any books except for the ones I bring you, okay?”

“Okay, Keith.”

This direction Keith knows Shiro will follow. “Alright, see you soon.” On his way out the door he pauses and raises a brow at him. “And stay out of trouble.” The door clicks shut.

Shiro gets up from the bed and goes to the window to watch Keith leave.

<3 *U* <3

Another pair of eyes watch Keith’s exit from the manicured hedges in front of the freshmen dormitory.

The blue eyes gleam with satisfaction when things go according to Lance’s prediction, “Alright--”

“What’s alright?” Lance stiffens at the sound of Hunk’s voice behind him.

His eyes fall shut in exasperation and pain when he hears Pidge next, “You’re planning something, right?” Lance grunts as she hops onto his back to see where he’s looking. “What is it? You want us to help?”

“No!” He jumps up, dislodging Pidge and she tumbles to the ground with an annoyed sound. “No help, no planning. I have no plan so I don’t need help with it and you guys can just go on ahead to class without me because I just remembered--”

“You’re gonna go see Shiro, aren’t you,” Hunk asks with amusement.

Pidge perks, and when Lance does nothing but freeze under the predatory gaze of his friends, she hops up with a maliciously gleeful smile. “Trying to strike up a friendship, are you?”

Hunk covers a mock scandalized gasp and Lance’s face flames red.

Pidge pushes her glasses up her nose smugly. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

“No, I really hadn’t thought that far…”

“But that’s the kind of spirit you should have, isn’t it?” Hunk smacks Lance on the back, shaking him lightly in encouragement. “Who cares if he’s dating Allura and you have a crush on him? You guys can still be friends!”

Pidge smacks his back too, a lot harder than Hunk and Lance hisses at the stinging pain in his shoulder, “Yeah, you should go for it. We’ll go cover for you being late with Mr. Cat.”

“Uh… okay?”

“Good luck!”

“You can totally do this, bro!”

Hunk and Pidge call out numerous well wishings all the way out the dormitory gates, Lance staring at them in bewilderment the entire way. _Since when were they_ this _supportive?_

Once the two are out of Lance’s sight, they pause.

“You really think this is a good idea,” Pidge asks Hunk.

“‘Course.” He smiles. “Lance has been a lot more cheerful since Shiro enrolled, and yeah, that’s mostly ‘cause he likes him, but Shiro’s a good role model for him too. I think they’ll be great friends.”

Pidge hums doubtfully. “If you say so.”

 _They must have some kind of bet going._ Lance shakes his head and turns to the senior dormitory, expression focused once again. “This time I’ll apologize properly!”

A small wavering dot near the dormitory’s roof catches his attention and his focus breaks to watch it. It slowly wobbles up into the air and another, smaller dot falls from the roof and then makes its way back up after about a foot, hovering near the first dot and then makes its way down when it tires. Another small dot jumps from the roof soon after.

Lance’s face brightens in recognition. “Canary Mom’s kids are leaving the nest today!”

Canary Mom keeps careful watch of her offspring drifting to the ground and when they reach it she chirps up at the last baby, who teeters uncertainly at the edge. It leans forward, but flaps frantically at the last second to keep from going over, scared.

Lance sucks in a fearful breath at the almost-tumble, and then an even larger breath when Shiro’s window opens and the man himself steps up onto the sill, eyes locked on the small scared bird.

“OH my god, be careful,” what would’ve turned into a yell turns into a hissed whisper, Lance’s heart racing as if he were the one balanced precariously. _What in the world is he doing?_

The little bird peeps fearfully and Canary Mom hovers reassuringly just below the roof, there if anything goes wrong, and Shiro’s eyes have that same reassurance, as empty as they are.

A shadow swoops in, talons outstretched to the baby bird, and Lance gasps when Canary Mom dives at the raven and successfully thwarts its attempt.

The raven swoops again and with Canary Mom still trying to turn in flight, the baby bird takes its survival into its own wings and jumps from the roof. In its rush to get away it falls in a way that even if it could truly fly it wouldn’t be able to right itself to do so. But before it even has a chance to worry a clockwork hand that shines in the sunlight is gently cradling it to a strong chest.

And Shiro is falling in its place, body curled protectively around downy soft feathers.

Lance leaps over the hedge toward him, screaming, “No!”

Omniscient eyes lock onto the scene with the clang of a cog fitting into place.

~~ _Oh dear, the Prince is going to die._ ~~

_The Prince?_

~~ _One of the story’s main characters is going to die._ ~~

_Die?_

~~_What will become of this story,_~~ the man backstage asks at large. He turns to Lance’s desperately running figure and implores him, ~~_Tell me what happens next._ ~~

_Me?_

~~ _Will the Prince live? Who will save him?_ ~~

_Who?_

The man’s eyes drift down to the red tear-shaped pendant around Lance’s neck when it shines briefly. ~~_Yes, I wonder who…_ ~~

_I will…_ an unsure murmur in Lance’s mind, but his eyes yearn for it, shining just as bright as his pendant.

 ~~_Do you care for him,_~~ an old man with a dancing cape asks on a fog-shrouded pond.

“Quack…”

 ~~_Do you want to be of help to the Prince,_~~ he asks, turquoise eyes shining confidently and smile hidden by his mustache.

“Quack…”

 ~~ _So, you’re saying you’re going to tell me this story,_~~ the man asks Lance, then and now.

“Quack!”

“A good show to you then, lad!”

The red pendant is draped around Lance’s neck by gloved hands and it glows like its a drop of freshly spilled blood where it bounces on Lance’s sternum.

_That’s right. I’m going to save the Prince!_

~~_Do you remember now? Who you are,_~~ the man prompts, eyes grim.

“I am…” A name comes to his lips, but his heart whispers that it doesn’t sound quite right.

So he changes it, as his pendant flares an enchanting purple and then a dazzling bright ocean blue. Grinning fiercely with furrowed brows, he calls, “Yo soy Príncipe de la Lluvia!”

The man backstage sputters and blinks incredulously. “What?!”

~~In another reality, a boy smirks as his last tear falls and his pen fades into stardust in his bleeding hand. “Good Luck, Lance.”~~

Lance’s pendant shines blindingly and the blue light wraps around him in a calming embrace. His eyes close and he feels the light pulse around him, through him, infusing him with potential. He stands with a small confident smile and the light trickles away from him like rain.

He feels that his clothes have changed, suddenly a lot more snug than they were before, he feels something soft on his shoulders that comes down over his collarbones and converges in between his pecs and feels that same softness at the tips of his ears below something that circles the back of his head, a small but secure weight resting at the center of his crown.

Before he can catalogue anymore, his pendant floats away from his chest and spins, silver arcing around it and latching onto the gem with a quickness, stilling it. The silver curls and twines around it where it holds it in place, and the reformed pendant returns to Lance’s neck where a delicate chain grows to hold it in place.

He straightens and closes his eyes as he puts his left hand into a fist over his heart, and when he opens them again he knows exactly what to do.

With one perfectly executed leap, he’s now only a few feet away from where Shiro will land. Eyes locked on his falling form, he yells, “Cloud Waltz!” and whirls into a pricked pirouette with an impossible amount of rotations per second.

Mist spreads quickly from the foot on the ground and curls out into a hurricane pattern around him, getting thicker and softer under Prince Rain’s pointed toes, covering the earth in a deep layer where Shiro is about to land.

Shiro, hearing the strong voice, lifts his head from where it was tucked down into his chest and meets Prince Rain’s radiant blues in the middle of one of his turns. He then disappears into Prince Rain’s cloud, sending small fluffs of white cotton into the air.

Seeing Shiro gone on his next turn, Prince Rain slows to a stop and looks out into the cloud worriedly. He sees something shine silver in the mist and hurries over with a running step. Reaching in, he grabs Shiro’s metal hand and pulls him out and Shiro meets Prince Rain’s eyes again as he rises. Once on his feet, he holds out his left hand, carefully opening it to reveal the unharmed baby bird, who chirps a couple times in thanks and flies away, no longer fearing any height.

“To be able to save you is an honor, Shiro,” Lance says when they both turn their attention back to each other after the little bird has flown away with its mother and siblings, smiling softly with relief when he sees that Shiro is okay. His smile turns fond, “It’s like a dream.”

“You know my name…” Shiro mutters. “Who are you?”

“I’m…” He stops. A dream, or is it a memory?, returning and it’s vague recollection throws him off track for a second. “Yo soy…” he tries again but his mind revolts, snatching the words out of his mouth before he can say them and shoving an image into his mind. A pond, with his reflection in the water. Wait, that’s him?

~~ _Oh, my dear boy. I’m so sorry, but you remember now._ ~~

“ I am…” He’s still speechless with the revelation, not sure if he even knows who he is anymore. _What_ he is. He’s--

~~ _You poor little duck._ ~~

“QuA--” He hurriedly covers his mouth, eyes shaky with the truth, and lets go of Shiro’s hand.

Shiro looks at him questioningly, hand still outstretched.

Lance takes a step back, hand pressed tight to his mouth, and then runs. Away from Shiro, away from the courtyard, away from the gates. Away, away, all the way to the forest, almost to the pond in the middle of it that he knows is there, why does he know it’s there, but he loses steam before reaching it, the transformation draining him.

He trudges a few more steps, feeling smaller and smaller, until he collapses as a duck. His pendant falling off of him and shining with promise once it settles to a stop.

_So I was a duck…_

~

 ~~ _Prince of Rain, eh? That’s... unexpected, to say the least._~~ The man backstage carefully looks over the cogs surrounding him. They still move as they should, turning in place one tick at a time, the sound of clockwork loud all around him. There are no wrenches thrown in, no piece out of place. ~~_I suppose that’s fine then._~~

He then looks carefully at the little duck passed out on the ground. ~~_Still… where in the world did you come from?_ ~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, if any of you have watched the _actual_ Princess Tutu anime all the way to the end, you'll know that the pendant changing color here is A VERY BIG DEAL. Why it changed color? There's a hint in the crossed out text that isn't underlined, but it's not answered completely. What does it mean, for Lance and Shiro? Well... you'll just have to read to find out. :)
> 
> Also, a beta, for any of my stories, would be greatly appreciated! You can reach me on my tumblr here: https://fantasypunchpunk.tumblr.com/ For future reference, I use Google Docs. And you know, even if you don't want to beta, I would still love to talk to you guys! So don't be shy, come on by!
> 
> The characters of Voltron: Legendary Defender belong to Dreamworks and in no way are mine, I just wanted to borrow them for a bit.


	4. Heart Shard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're walking through the woods and your cellphone is dead and you see him...
> 
>  ~~SHIA LABEOUF~~ _Coran Coran that gorgeous man~!_
> 
> you guys, I'm gonna barf, this was such a long chapter

Once upon a time, there was a man who died.

The man was writing a story about a brave and handsome Prince, who vanquishes a tyrannical Raven King.

When the man died, the Raven King and the Prince escaped from within the story.

In order to seal the Raven King away, the Prince took out his own heart and used a forbidden power that had been solely granted to him.

The Raven King was completely banished, but the Prince's heart was shattered and its shards were scattered all across town.

Ever since then, in this town, stories and reality have intermingled and it has become a world where the fantastical was no longer fantastical.

~

When Lance opens his eyes, he immediately assumes he's dreaming. The foggy forest has been a backdrop to so many of them that at this point, it's impossible not to relate the two. But the absence of water under him is what tips him off that something is wrong.

He groans, "What...?" And pushes himself up, blinking a bit to clear his blurred eyesight and pauses when he sees his hands on the ground.

No, please excuse him, not hands.

Wings.

He hops to his feet with a startled quack and flips them over back and forth in front of his face.

 _Wings?! I have wings?! This can't be real, but I can_ feel _my feathers, and_ oh my god I have feathers!! What!!

He zigzags through the brush and grass that now looms over his head, chanting no with every step but all that comes from his mou- _beak_ are quacks.

_This can't be happening. This can't be--_

He halts at the edge of a pond, and there in the water is the reflection of a small yellow duck with blue eyes. _His_ blue eyes.

 _No._ The sight of himself makes him dizzy so he backs away from the pond. _Nononono, I was human. I_ am _human, I... was I?_

The agreement with that man flashes through Lance's mind, reminding him.

 _Then I really am a duck._ He slowly lowers himself to sit on the ground, eyes staring out at nothing. _Was it all a dream? The school, Pidge, Hunk... Shiro. Was I able to help him? Did I just dream of being human? Am I sure I'm not dreaming now?_

~~ _This is no dream, little duck._ ~~

Lance's head snaps up. A man stands before him solemnly, the man who told him he could save Shiro.

Lance's eyes narrow. "Quack! Quack, quack!" **_Who are you?!_**

"My name is Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe. Friends call me Coran."

_**Mr. Smythe, then.** _

The man cringes. "I prefer Wimbleton, actually."

"Quaaack." _**Oookay.**_ Lance gets to his webbed feet, eyeing him. _**What do you want from me, Mr. Wimbleton?**_

"I want a lot of things, little duck. But, what's important is not what I want," He gestures down at him. "It's what you want."

"Quack?"

"Do you want to help the Prince who's lost his heart?"

Lance's brow furrows in concern. _**Someone lost their heart?**_ He shakes his head. _**Wait, no. I feel for them, whoever they are, and I wish I could help them. But the person I really want to help is Shiro.**_

Mr. Wimbleton reaches inside his cape, that's hanging still this time, and pulls out a heavy tome that's latched closed. He holds it up and lets go, leaving it suspended in the air. With a gesture, the latches click free and it opens before him.

"The Prince, is the hero in a story I wrote," he says in response to Lance's first reaction of curiosity, "Who battled against a demonic Raven King." He pulls out a long feathered pen and scribbles down a few things into the tome, frowning lightly. He stops and pulls his pen away with a sigh, turning the tome around so Lance can see the inside, revealing an illustration of two outlines. A bird and a sword. "Of course, that was when they were still inside it."

 _ **What, did they escape or something,**_ Lance asks sarcastically.

"Yes," Mr. Wimbleton's blunt answer shocks Lance into silence. "They both escaped the story, and in order to save the world from the Raven King's evil deeds, the Prince lost his heart to seal him away. Very noble, as is expected of a story's hero." A proud smile briefly lifts Mr. Wimbleton's face, but it drops into a frown as he turns the page, the illustration on this one depicting what looks like shining red rain falling onto a familiar looking town.

Gold Crown Town, Lance realizes, spotting the clock tower that's the bane of his mornings.

"His lost heart was shattered," Mr. Wimbleton continues, "and now wanders as shards." He levels Lance with a long look. "Only you, with the strength of... Príncipe de la Lluvia," He takes care to say it as Lance did, and the duck nods, "Can restore his heart to him."

_**Wow... no pressure.** _

Mr. Wimbleton hums, turning the tome back to him and looking it over calculatingly while stroking his mustache.

_**Look, this is interesting, and all, but this Prince is--** _

"Shiro," Mr. Wimbleton murmurs distractedly.

_**...Shiro is your story's Prince?** _

Mr. Wimbleton glances at Lance, then diverts his full attention from the book to him. "Yes, he is."

_**...Then Shiro's heart...** _

Mr. Wimbleton stays quiet.

Lance reels for the second time that day. _Shiro's heart is shattered and lost. That's why his eyes are so lonely. And the only way to restore it--_... Lance lifts his head and meets Mr. Wimbleton's eyes.

Mr. Wimbleton closes the tome and tucks it back into his cape. "You have resolve. That's good. Do you know what you want, Lance?"

_**I want to restore Shiro's heart!** _

"Then I'll turn you human once again."

_**Really?! You can do that?** _

"Only if that's truly what you desire."

 _ **It is!**_ Lance's feathers fluff up in determination. **_I'm sure if I can restore Shiro's heart, he'll be able to smile again. I don't think I could desire anything more._**

"Good news for you, then!" Mr. Wimbleton winks and gives Lance a thumbs up with that eye dimpling smile. "If you desire something with your whole heart, and have the resolve to accomplish it, anything is possible." He twirls his mustache thoughtfully. "I dare say that nothing would be _im_ possible, either. That's what's so great about stories." He holds out his hand and gives it a little twirl, opening it to reveal Lance's pendant. He bends down and drapes it over the little duck's head, announcing, " _The duck will become a boy and the boy will become Príncipe de la Lluvia._ "

The pendant shines and Lance's eyes fall closed as his body turns human once again.

"Stories are such wonderful things," Mr. Wimbleton hums, then pauses, eyes falling on the glowing pendant. Has it always been blue? Well, no matter. He must be forgetting things.

When Lance's transformation is complete, he stands alone in the middle of the forest. He looks around in confusion and startles when Mr. Wimbleton's voice echoes from everywhere.

 ~~ _Just remember, if you say or do anything resembling a duck..._ ~~

_Resembling a duck? How can you resemble a duck? I mean, it's not like I have chicken legs or someth--_ Lance looks down at said legs to verify his inner claim and lets out a flustered and surprised quack when he discovers his nudity. Immediately, he shrinks down into his fowl-er form in a cloud of blue sparkles.

 ~~ _Remember..._~~ Mr. Wimbleton's voice calls with heavy amusement.

Lance feels a vein throb in his head. "Quack! Quack quack!" _**You know, I think you're getting way too much enjoyment out of this!**_

No reply.

"...Quack?" _**...Mr. Wimbleton?**_ "Quaaack?" _**How am I supposed to change back?**_

Again, no reply. But the fog lightens and the forest returns to color from grey-scale.

Lance takes this to mean he's gone. " _Great,_ " he quacks. " _This is all so very helpful._ " He paces a bit. _So what now? Am I supposed to live out the rest of my days as a duck?_ He waddles around exaggeratedly. " _Oh, look at me! I'm just a dumb little duck!_ " He spots the pond and waddles over to it. " _Look! It's water!_ " He hops in. " _Hur dur, I'mma float here uselessly and- you know, this is actually pretty calming_ \- Blurggle!" His suddenly longer limbs overbalance Lance and he faceplants into the pond.

He surfaces with a gasp and slicks back his hair. "Right," he pants. "Water = Human, got it." He looks down, and gasps, "Qua--" And slaps a hand over his mouth.

~~_"Just remember, if you say or do anything resembling a duck..." _ ~~

_That's gonna get old really_ _quick,_ Lance thinks, brow twitching.

A few low lackadaisical hummed notes drift past his ear and Lance looks up.

Casually strolling towards him in grease-stained overalls with woodworking gloves in the front pocket and a faded plaid purple shirt, is a man with sleepy eyes and a wooden carrying case. "May those who defy fate accept glory, but only if they are on a road with a righteous destination."

Lance blinks. "What?"

The man blinks too. "Mm. Nothing, I guess."

_Who is this guy?_

"How ya doin', Lance? I'm Rolo."

Lance cocks an eyebrow. "You know me?"

"Wimbleton sent me." He opens his wooden case and pulls out Lance's uniform. "Thought you might get cold without this."

Lance looks down and then sinks into the water with a blush.

~

"So I'm saying, if I was a duck, how come I have all these memories of me being human, like," Lance gestures. "It's vague, but I have a family! I know my mom's cooking and how my uncle snores and my little sibling's laughter... But I can't remember their faces. Even just now! I can't remember if I have a little sister or a little brother." He looks down, despondent. "And Pidge and Hunk... are the memories of my friendship with them fake too?"

Rolo stares at him. "That's some pretty deep stuff, man."

"Yeah," Lance sighs.

"Well, just think of it this way," Lance looks up at him and Rolo sighs reassuringly. "This is all a story, right?"

Lance nods hesitantly. _In some twisted way, that's true. Especially if Mr. Wimbleton is still writing this all down in that tome of his._

"Then all your questions will be answered before it ends."

Lance stares at Rolo uncertainly, both; in incredulousness for his laid back answer and in unease at the ominous feeling he gets in response to Rolo pointing out that the story he's _in_ is going to... _end._ "I thought you were supposed to help me."

Rolo sighs. "Look, I don't know what to tell you about your family, but let me ask you this about your friends... Hunk and Pidge, right?"

Lance nods.

"If your memories were fake, but they're still the people you know them to be... would you stop being friends with them?"

"No," Lance answers immediately. "I mean, they're the greatest people I know, besides Shiro. If anything I would just..." Lance pauses.

"Befriend them all over again?"

"Yeah," Lance smiles.

Rolo gives him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "There. Helped."

Lance snorts and slows to a stop when he realizes they're now in front of the school's main building.

"Well," Rolo turns on his heel and walks off, waving over his shoulder. "See you around, duck face."

"I do not have a duck face!"

~

"I don't have a duck face, _you_ have a duck face," Lance mutters to himself as he walks through the school's huge quad. "I may actually _be_ a duck, but my human face looks _nothing_ like a--" He cuts himself off with a gasp and hides behind one of the ballet sculptures that line the walkway.

There, sitting on the grass on a hill that leads up to another walkway, is Shiro, focused attentively on the book in his lap.

Lance's heart is set swiftly aflutter, a smile crossing his face. It soon drops into a frown, however, at the thought of their last meeting.

 _I ran away from him!_ He groans lightly, putting his back to the statue and pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. _But wait, will he even be able to remember that? Do I have some kind of power to make people forget they ever saw Príncipe de la_ _Lluvia?_ He peeks back out at Shiro. _Well, even if he did remember, he probably wouldn't recognize me..._ He blinks. _Or would he? What do I even look like as Príncipe de la Lluvia? I know what I look like as a duck-_ His brain screeches to a halt.

_Oh my god, what would Shiro think of me as a duck? "Lance as a duck? That sounds about right," or, "Shoo, shoo. I don't have any bread crumbs," like I'm just a stupid animal or worst of all, "Oh wow! My favorite! Someone pass the orange sauce!"_

He takes a moment to let the terrified nausea that washes over him at that thought pass, "He never finds out," Lance nods decisively to himself.

He returns to spying on the light of his heart. _Shiro... if that thing about him being the Prince in Mr. Wimbleton's story is true, then his heart..._ Thinking of Shiro injured reminds him, _Ah! I never apologized for his ankle!_

He steps out of hiding, face and heart set in determination! "I must go...!"

His voice calls Shiro's attention and silver eyes lift from the pages of his book to meet his.

Okay, so Lance's heart is more waver-y now, but he perseveres! Jogging up the hill to him, Lance's heart wavers even more when he sees Shiro close his book to give him his full attention.

"U-um," he stutters as he comes to a stop in front of him. "I'm so sorry!"

"For what?"

"Your ankle," Lance looks down at where it's stretched out in front of Shiro. "Does it not hurt anymore?"

"Not really."

Lance's shoulders slump and he smiles. "Then it's all healed. I'm glad."

Shiro stares at him.

 _Words, talking! I have to say something to him!_ "So,um... that a book you're reading? I mean, of course it is, but I didn't know you liked books! That's pretty cool, I don't like reading that much unless Pidge or Hunk recommends something, but hey! Maybe the one you're reading is good?" He leans over to look at the cover. "Princess Tutu?" _Why does that sound familiar?_ "Do you think it's interesting?" _Oh my god, Lance! Of course he thinks it's interesting, otherwise he wouldn't be reading it, what are you doing?!_

"Not really."

Lance blinks at him. "Huh?"

"I don't think I particularly like or dislike books," He looks down at the one he holds. "And I'm not sure if I find this one interesting."

Lance is now the one staring at Shiro, but with profound sadness instead of blank curiosity. _There they are again. Those lonely looking eyes._

"A good day to you, Shiro," a light voice trills.

Lance perks up. _If anyone can cheer up Shiro, it would be-_ "Allur- _agh?!_ " _Anteater! That's an anteater! With the digging claws, and the bushy tail, and the long nose with the- oh my god it's- she? it? she?!- sticking out their tongue_ and now it's wiggling, oh my god! He blinks at it- her? She's wearing the girl's uniform so her. _First a cat, now an anteater. I know I'm a duck, but still?!_

"May I sit next to you?" the anteater asks Shiro.

"Sure."

She does so delicately, flicking out her tongue and blinking her long lashes slowly. When she's settled she casually asks, "How do you feel about Allura?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" She turns to him in surprise. "Do you not love her?"

"I don't know." Lance looks at Shiro in surprise as well at his answer.

"In that case," the anteater continues, looking at Shiro intensely. "Might I ask you to be with me instead? Would you be averse to it?"

"Not really."

Lance's heart drops along with his jaw. _No way!_

"Shiro..." The anteater lays one of her paws gently over Shiro's hand that rests on his book and with a bashful flutter of lashes, flicks her tongue gently against one of his sharp cheekbones.

 _Ohmygod, she licked him!_ "Okay!" Lance hops to his feet quickly. "I think it's time for me to leave you two lovebirds alone!" He turns away from them and marches down the walkway towards the school.

And nearly plotzes when he sees who's walking toward him. _Allura!_ He quacks in surprise and slaps his hands over his mouth, whining internally as he jumps into a nearby bush with a trail of blue sparkles following him. He fights free of his clothes and branches just in time to see her still heading toward them and he flops out in front of her, holding out his wings and quacking loudly and plaintively.

Allura stops and looks down at him, staring a moment before smiling indulgently and stepping around him. "Cute little thing."

Lance flails for a moment, looking between her and Shiro with his new girlfriend and frantically around. _She's gonna be crushed! I have to stop her. How did I turn human again last time?_ His gaze lands on the fountain a few meters away. _Water!_

He makes for the water feature but doubles back to grab his clothes and stuff them into a bush closer to the fountain and then dives in. With a flash of blue he's back to his long-limbed self and he then dives into the bush with his clothes, chanting a mantra of, "Hurry!" as he shoves them on haphazardly and does a quick check to make sure he's at least half-presentable before stumbling out of the greenery, unaware of the leaves in his hair and peeking out from under his lapel.

"Allura!" She pauses and blinks in surprise when Lance pops up in front of her, waving his arms excitedly in an attempt to keep her attention away from the people behind him. "Hey, girl! I, uh, really had something I--"

"If it isn't Allura!" the voice of the anteater causes Lance to freeze while biting his tongue. Turning, he finds it just as bad as he thought, Shiro calmly cradled in the anteater's possessive claws and casually reading his book as her tongue curls out smugly above him. "Allow me to inform you," she directs to Allura. "Shiro will be going out with me, from now on."

Allura lets out a quiet noise of questioning surprise and Lance's eyes flicker back and forth from her to the anteater anxiously.

The anteater's eyes dimple in the imitation of a proud smile. "I believe it's clear who the winner is here." She turns with Shiro still in her hold, throwing one last victorious look over her shoulder. "Excuse us."

Lance's eyes dart to Allura, who stares at the two's retreat with still surprised eyes, and he flaps his arms to get her attention before she starts to feel bad. "Okay so, that was probably blown way out of proportion, I'm pretty sure. There's no way that actually happened, Shiro is probably--!"

"It doesn't bother me," Allura cuts off his attempts to reassure her.

Lance's arms fall to his sides as he blinks in confusion. "Huh? I mean! That's good? I guess?"

She smiles at him warmly. "You're very kind."

Lance blushes at the compliment but manages to choke out a confused thank you to which Allura just smiles at him again.

~

It's not long, only a few scant hours in fact, until rumors of the news start to spread through the school.

_"Shiro's dating someone new?!"_

_"And it's Anteaterina of all people too!"_

_"Then that means he dumped Allura?!"_

In one of the school's walkways from building to building, Keith finds Shiro alone.

"You broke up with Allura?" he asks the young man, who's leaning on one of the alcoves, looking out at the school. "That's pretty harsh, man," Keith jokes flatly, more for himself than for Shiro, who he's never seen smile, let alone laugh.

"Is it?" Shiro questions tonelessly.

Keith stares at him for a second. "It's just because you don't understand people's feelings." He sighs, shuffling a hand through his hair. "I admit that I'm not the best at that either, maybe you got that from me."

"I'm sorry," he replies, keeping his eyes trained out of the alcove.

Keith looks up from where his eyes had dropped to the ground and lowers his hand from his hair. "Idiot," he says fondly, even though his eyes are sad. "You're fine how you are."

~

Mr. Cat paces in front of his students.

"'With ballet, take a day off and you will know, take three days off and those around you will know, and take a week off and the audience will know.' As this adage indicates, daily practice is most important." He comes to a stop and faces them, paws clasped behind his back. "And so, from now on, we will have a test once a month to assign you to a class. In the worst case scenario, you will be dropped to the probationary class."

Everyone lets out noises of disbelief.

Beside Lance, Hunk mutters, "Man, probationary class is the pits!" And Lance can only make a face of dismay because that's gonna be his class, it is, he just knows it.

Presumably hearing Hunk, Mr. Cat breaks out into a sweat as an intense aura surrounds him. "That, or I will have you marry me!"

"That's even worse!" is what bursts out of Lance's mouth before he can think to filter himself and Hunk and Pidge each slap a hand over his mouth as Mr. Cat's eye twitches.

He then proceeds to frantically scratch at the underside of his chin with his foot on the ground.

"Mr. Cat!" Anteaterina calls, interrupting the teacher's freak-out time. When Mr. Cat gets to all fours with his back in a bridge and fur standing on end and inquires what she wants, she asks, "Is the special class strictly limited to five people?"

"Yes, it is! Meow!"

Her gaze conspicuously travels to Allura when she says, "Then I suppose someone will have to be dropped!"

More eyes stray to Allura for her response, but she only stands with her head demurely down and her hands clasped in front of her.

While Lance gapes at Anteaterina's audacity, Hunk says, "Dude, she just called Allura out!"

Lance's head snaps to him. "What do you mean?"

"She's establishing dominance," Lance looks down at Pidge just in time to catch the way the light flashes off her glasses calculatively. "Anteaterina's trying to usurp Allura's position on the popularity scale. The first step was to get Shiro, and now the second; stealing Allura's place in the special class."

Lance's eyes are wide. "Then she doesn't love Shiro?!"

"From what you told us happened earlier, I would say no," she confides. "She probably has more of a crush on Allura than Shiro, comparatively."

While Lance reels over the fact that there's someone in existence who doesn't have a crush on Shiro- _Shiro,_ the pinnacle of perfection- and yet they're the one who's dating him, Anteaterina declares, "I shall dance a pas de deux with my partner." She turns, and calls out, "Come here, Shiro!"

A few people part quickly with befuddled expressions to make a path for the blank-faced Shiro to her. Lance's eye spots a ponytail near him and he pouts a bit as he makes out the form of a cross-armed bored looking Keith right by Shiro's side. The memory of his rude attitude earlier makes Lance's brows furrow, but he quickly turns back to the matter at hand as Anteaterina laughs like a low tier villain revealing her dastardly plot, looking straight at Allura the whole time, who still hasn't bothered to look up.

Looking back and forth between the two girls, Lance can't help but quietly whisper, "Oh my god, it's _so_ about to go _dowwwn._ "

Hunk and Pidge nod emphatically in agreement, watching the happenings just as avidly.

~

Anteaterina and Shiro couru in-sync to the left, Lance's eyes following them and then their back legs as they're lifted into an arabesque, again perfectly in-sync. Their expressions don't match or convey complimenting emotions, something Lance heard about while near one of the advanced classes, but Mr. Cat hasn't told them anything about that yet so he doesn't start yelling like Lance heard the teacher of the older students do.

They couru back the other way and Lance spots the small smile Allura wears where she sits to left of him, Hunk, and Pidge, before he pulls his eyes back to the two dancers, jaw dropping as Anteaterina hoists Shiro into a lift. Like, he knows Anteaterina can carry Shiro but _damn_ girl's got some muscles because though there's not an ounce of fat on him, his boy Shiro is not light.

She dips him, eyes fiery while his are wistful, more running steps and then Shiro falls back to be caught neatly by her again.

"Wow," murmurs Hunk from the right of Lance, "She wasn't bluffing, was she?"

"As fascinating as the anthropological aspects of this all is, I'm over it," Pidge declares from Lance's left with equal parts irritation and boredom. "Not my sort of drama."

"Oh, you mean the kind that you start?" Hunk asks idly.

"Exactly!"

Lance can't hear them over his fixation on the two dancers. They both move so great together, like every breath is planned or their minds are linked or something. Both of their techniques are flawless, Anteaterina has even started to mirror Shiro's sad hollow look with faces of heartbreak as well, and she's good! Really really good, but...

There's no joy in it.

Mr. Cat watches with impartial slit eyes as Anteaterina whirls Shiro into a pricked pirouette and then, with a cue only she seems aware of, bodily throws the young man into the air, making a gasp catch in Lance's throat as Shiro just limply allows it, hanging suspended high in the air for a moment before he starts to plummet down- right into Anteaterina's hold with his lower back supported by the claws above her head and his legs gracefully out to either side of him while he leans back, arms above his head.

The class all ooohs obligingly from their seats on the ground and Anteaterina turns to the girl she's challenging after setting Shiro down, smile in her voice from the admiration of her peers, "Allura, I would very much like to see your pas de deux." She wraps her arm around Shiro, tugging him closer without so much as a blink from the boy. "But the question is whether or not there is a partner for you." Her eyes are cruel while her tongue flicks out smugly and Lance frowns.

"Dude, that was kind of mean," Hunk grumbles unhappily.

"Yeah, it was," Lance nods slowly, beginning to feel concern creep up on him. "What's Allura gonna do now?"

Pidge doesn't even try to hide her disinterest in the situation, gaze glazed in a way that Lance knows means she's doing some random calculations while fixed on one of the mirrored studio walls.

Allura gets to her feet then, the eyes of the other special class girls following her rise, and looks towards the rest of the class, flashing a smile, and asking, "Will you dance with me?"

Lance looks behind him to see who she's talking to. When nobody moves, he faces her again to check her line of sight and then to either side of him and behind again, before actually looking at her and her eyes are on him.

Just to be sure, he points to himself, "You're talking to me?"

Allura's kind smile tints with amusement. "Yes, I am."

Lance is so frozen with surprise that Hunk and Pidge have to drag and push him off the ground and over towards her like an uncooperative marionette. As he stumbles over to her, he stutters out, "Um, A-Allura, you know, I don't really think I'm the best pick! I kinda suck at ballet, so maybe you should choose someone else?" He tries really hard not to hear the muttered comments of the class behind him,

_"Why would she choose Lance?"_

_"Maybe an excuse for when she loses?"_

But he can't help but slightly agree with the last voice when they mutter, _"Good point."_

Allura just smiles at him and takes position to start her stretches. "Don't worry, you just have to follow my lead." She waves him down to the floor with her as she sits down. "Now come stretch with me, it wouldn't do to have you pull something in the middle of the performance."

"Right," he mutters, and obediently sits, trying and failing to get rid of his nerves by focusing on the familiar motions of working out each muscle.

A few short minutes later they both stand in front of the class, Allura bowing to everyone and Lance hurriedly doing the same when he sees what she's doing.

_Justfollowherleadjustfollowherleadjustfollowherlead-_

"Don't be nervous," a voice says in Lance's ear and he jumps as he turns his head to see Allura now standing behind him.

"O-okay," he whimpers weakly.

Down in the audience in front of them, Hunk has his shoulders up to his ears as he peeks through the fingers shielding his eyes. "Ooooh, this is gonna be so bad."

"Yup," Pidge agrees, attention firmly on the soon-to-be train wreck.

Allura and Lance stand in a serene and shaky prepatory position, respectively. Allura's face is calm while Lance's is pure-hearted determination. They both move their arms in almost tandem, with Lance only a second behind as he follows Allura, from first, to second, and then third position with their arms as they slowly couru to the left. They move from third directly to fifth position with their arms, still stepping, and then back to second and then third with the opposite arms.

Even with these basic positions Lance can see the difference in their ballet. Compared to Allura, his en pointe is not as pointy and his arm movements are far less graceful and far more hesitant. Still, Allura chose him as her partner so he's going to do his best, even if it's not the greatest.

Their hands come up over their heads to hover near each other by the wrists, and they move away a few steps just to come together to do it again, a few more steps and then again.

Allura smiles at him in encouragement and he takes a calming breath in response, keeping his eyes on her to see what to do next. _Just follow her lead, just follow her lead..._

They twirl around each other in pirouettes, Allura's pricked while Lance's are loose. When she passes close, Allura prompts softly, "Jump."

So with a few running steps, he does. Surprise and joy flashing through him when her hands connect with his sides to lift him even higher and he lets out an elated gasp.

The entire class gasps in awe with him, Hunk and Pidge with mouths dropped open with unexpected surprise, and even Keith has his eyebrows raised in slight impressment. Shiro watches on blankly.

Allura supports his midriff and ankle when she sets him down, guiding him into lifting it and Lance goes along with it, trusting her with his, admittedly slight, weight. She then guides him back into a dip, face miming deep profound emotions and Lance wants to reciprocate but all he can emote is his surprise at his delight in dancing with a partner.

He thought he would be messing up a lot more but with Allura's support and help this is actually starting to be... really fun!

He tosses his leg and an arm up with a small grin and Allura catches his calf so he can hold the position, a small smile mirrored on her own face. He jumps again and can't help it when he lets out a small laugh of joy, Allura's smile, and a lot of smiles in the class, including Keith's previously non-existing one, widening at the sound of it.

Allura takes his hand and whirls him into a pricked pirouette, Lance trying and failing on focusing on one spot in the room, so when she prompts him to stop by tightening the loose grip she has on his hand, he wobbles and almost eats the floor but Allura's other hand comes up and quickly catches his ankle, with him ending up in a supported arabesque.

At the last second Lance remembers to smile out at the class, like everything that just happened was completely planned. Yup, totally.

The entire class's jaws are dropped in the ensuing silence.

And then a single pair of hands come together in a slow clap.

Lance follows the movement and is completely floored to see the person clapping is _Keith!_ And not only that, he's looking right at Lance and has this small smirk on that Lance can't parse the meaning of.

Regardless of his intentions, Shiro follows his lead and starts clapping too which soon has the entire class applauding his and Allura's performance.

 _We did it! We did okay._ Lance shares a smile with Allura and while they're still in final position until the applause stops since they don't have a curtain to close on them just like they were taught, she murmurs to him, "You did wonderfully."

Lance blushes happily at the praise. "I did?"

"You did."

Hunk is practically in tears as he claps while Pidge looks like she's just witnessed a magic trick that she can't figure out if it was real or fake.

"Lance did so well, I'm so proud of him!" Hunk chokes out as he breaks out into soft sobs.

Pidge distractedly pats his shoulder in comfort.

In all the applause, Lance's eyes are drawn to the heavily silent corner of the studio, where Anteaterina stands with slumped shoulders and a tear of dejection sliding down her long snout, and he frowns with concern.

~

In the lively, warm afternoon forest filled with singing birds the gazebo is surrounded by, the sharp crack of a clawed hand hitting Shiro's cheek is still very loud in its abruptness.

"After the humiliation that I, your girlfriend, just went through, how can you not say anything?!"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?! You don't know why you _clapped_ for our opponents?!"

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry?! Sorry that you didn't do better?! Did you purposely set me up for failure?!"

"I don't know."

"Don't play with me!!" The enraged exclamation catches Lance's attention from where he wanders the woods. He follows the sound of it to find Anteaterina and Shiro just in time for him to hear her confession, "If you had not been Allura's boyfriend, I would have never asked you out to begin with! We're over!"

 _Pidge was right,_ Lance can't help but think, but his indignation at Anteaterina's insincere intentions is overshadowed by his concern as she turns in his direction to leave and her eyes are shrouded with pain and tears.

He reaches out to her, but can only manage a worried, "Um," before he's cut off by her.

"Have you come to mock me too?!" she spits defensively.

"No! I--" She storms past him before he can finish. He turns and grabs her sleeve, not wanting to leave her with negative thoughts, "Wait-!" As soon as he touches her shirt, an awareness washes over him and his pendant glimmers with a bright blue glow. He looks down at it in confusion, wondering what's happening, and in his distraction, Anteaterina yanks her arm out of his hold and runs away.

Calling her name, he follows, but apparently anthropomorphized anteaters are better runners than humans as she quickly disappears from his sight into the forest. He stops running when she does and wanders at a walking pace, keeping an ear out for her voice.

A few minutes later, he hears her.

" _...Not fair! Not fair!_ " she screams, deep thumps and tiny pitter-patters after every exclamation. It sounds like rain to Lance but that can't be right because the sky is completely clear. He follows the sound anyway and the thumps and pitter-patters stop as she cries quietly, "It's not fair...!"

A second voice answers her, confusing Lance because it kinda sounds like... but they left him back at the gazebo, it can't be. "I know how you feel," it says, "Go on and cry. It _is_ unfair," it comforts her.

Lance rounds a tree and gapes at what he sees. "Shiro."

It _looks_ like it's him, anyway. If Shiro were transparent and a glowy red and dressed like a medieval prince. He kneels on the torn up ground by Anteaterina and holds her head in a reassuring embrace.

"It's so unfair it hurts," Anteaterina laments and the hurt that was in her eyes are now reflected in the Shiro lookalike's in sympathy. "Please," she bids him, "Stay with me always."

"Of course I will," he reassures her.

"No, what is this?" Lance murmurs to himself. He's not taking any pains to be quiet or even hide but the Shiro lookalike, the _clone_ , is so focused on Anteaterina and she on him that they don't notice him.

"I need you," he tells her, eyes soft and sad and _yearning_ , and the emotion on his face should please Lance and it does, on some level, because Shiro's eyes aren't empty anymore but it also unsettles him because _that isn't Shiro._ Is it? His instincts are telling are telling him _yes_ but there's something wrong. Something he has to fix.

"I need your broken heart," he tells Anteaterina, and that something clicks together in Lance's mind.

The school bell tolls loudly in the distance and unheard gears click and crank into place in time with the also unheard pleased laughter.

 ~~ _Looks like you've found a shard of Prince Shiro's heart,_~~ Mr. Wimbleton congratulates, pacing around backstage as his gaze flickers back and forth from the cog that offers a view into Gold Crown Town and the open old tome in one hand, a side of his mustache twirling around his fingers. ~~_Now, reveal the mystery, Príncipe de la Lluvia._~~

Lance's pendant comes to life with the inaudible bidding and Lance is once again swallowed by calming blue light. The pulse of power washes through him and when he's released the determination he feels whenever he's like this is read clearly in the line of his brow and the press of his lips.

The world is thrown into the negative shadows Lance associates with his dreams and Mr. Wimbleton and he knows that the older man must be aware of what's happening right now.

~~_Careful, lad. Older than you I may well be, but I'm still not_ old. ~~

~~~~Prince Rain's transformation draws the attention of Anteaterina and Shiro's heart shard.

"Who's there?!" she demands of him. She doesn't seem to have seen him at all before he transformed, luckily. Lance just kinda thought they were ignoring him. "Have you come to laugh at me as well?!"

Prince Rain benignly ignores the accusation. "Anteaterina, that's not your partner."

"Don't be ridiculous," she fumes.

Prince Rain raises his hands above his head and twirls them around each other before offering one out to her with a warm smile. "Dance with me, Anteaterina."

"I refuse!" She stands like a cornered animal ready to fight, eyes narrowed in anger. "You couldn't possibly understand how I feel!" She raises her arms sharply into third position as her legs cross into fourth and Shiro's heart shard fades from where it was curiously watching the two interact at her side as she gains a nebulous red glow.

Anteaterina then slowly begins to pirouette, keeping her eyes locked on Prince Rain angrily as her focal point. Dark brown stone stalagmites rise from the ground around her in shadow to form half an arena, it being open on the Prince's end in a clear invitation for a fight, and the monochrome grass gives way to dry beige sand in a ripple outward from her spinning foot.

Still spinning, she calls out to him, "Just go away!"

Her pirouette's passionate turns stir up a wind strong enough to blow the sand all around her in a defensive gale. The gust of sand blows Prince Rain back a bit and he has to shield his eyes from its sting.

He grunts as it still cuts across his exposed collar and calves. "Anteaterina!" he calls, "Is this truly your ballet?"

"Yes!" she yells over the desert-like breeze, "To make your audience surrender.  _That_ is art!"

Prince Rain steps forward and leaps, sailing over the small waves of sand that had surrounded his feet. "But that's not how you  _truly_ feel, is it?"

"It is! I believe it from the bottom of my heart!" she enthuses with wide eyes. She spins faster into a pricked pirouette, churning up  _more_ sand into  _higher_ waves, high enough to knock Prince Rain out of his leap and away from her with a pained yelp. "This is my ballet!" she bellows triumphantly.

Prince Rain slowly pushes up from where he was knocked aside into a sprawl, blue eyes big and gently probing as he asks, "Then why do you seem to be in such pain?"

Anteaterina's expression hardens and she keeps up her pricked pirouette.

Prince Rain stands. "There is no joy in your dancing. What are you so bitter about that prevents you from being happy?"

"I just wanted to be as good as her!"

"Her?"

"Allura!" Tears form in Anteaterina's eyes. "After I watched one of her practices I asked her how to become such a wonderful dancer like her. She told me to practice and when I said I would practice as hard as I could to dance like her, she said it was impossible!" she screams.

"Wait... so, you're doing all this just because Allura said it was impossible to dance like her?"

"Yes! I want to win against Allura! By any means possible!"

Prince Rain, no, Lance stares at her incredulously. "There's nothing to win! Of course you're not going to be able to dance like her," Anteaterina's eyes narrow dangerously but Lance goes on, "Everyone dances differently!"

Anteaterina stumbles to a stop, sand falling to the ground. "What?" she stutters, more in astonishment than true question.

"Allura is really nice. She--" Lance realizes just before he actually does it, that he's about to reveal his identity by telling Anteaterina that Allura was kind to him and hurriedly corrects himself in a deep, 'all-knowing', more Prince Rain-like voice, "I mean,  _I have seen her generosity towards others and she is not the type of person to say things to others with the cruel intent you interpreted._ " He returns to sounding more like himself, "When she said it was impossible for you to dance like her, I don't think she was trying to put down your ambition. I think she just meant that you should pursue your own style of dancing instead of aiming to become a mimicry of hers."

He slowly walks towards Anteaterina and holds out a hand to the gobsmacked girl as the sand underneath his feet slowly changes into a lake with the currents his footsteps make. "Dance with me, Anteaterina. Put aside your frustrated feelings of false-incompetence and show me how you  _truly_ do ballet." He grins charmingly and winks. "I'm sure it'll be just as beautiful as you."

Sparing him a look of unamused incredulity, she puts her hand in his.

They dance a light-hearted pas de deux, spinning and bowing and tip-toeing with peaceful smiles on their faces, Lance supporting her so she can dance and express herself as freely as she likes to her heart's content. Her movements are honest and liberated and she admits to him freely, "This is so much fun!"

When their dance reaches its final position, the large fur-covered clawed hand in Prince Rain's fades into a smaller but just as strong human one that glows red.

Prince Rain looks up and meets the eyes of Shiro's heart shard. "You're..."

"I am the feeling of bitter disappointment," the heart shard answers in a voice no different than Shiro's, "Shattered and forgotten."

Prince Rain's heart aches at the abandonment part of Shiro's heart must have felt, but he smiles because he's now able to bring it back home. "This is not where you belong," he tells it kindly.

"Must I wander, again?" it asks, fear and a shade of itself in its words.

Lance's heart twinges again sharply. "You must return to him," he tells it with soft reassurance.

"I can return?" it asks, like it truly thought it would never be welcomed back.

"Yes," Lance answers firmly, wanting to put its fears to rest.

The heart shard smiles, relief and joy painting Shiro's features and making Lance's heart warm. "Thank goodness," it breathes in tired contentment and dissolves into red sparks of light that come together in Lance's held out hands.

He watches in awe as they reform into a red crystal-like shard in his palms, the red glow warming his small smile from beneath.

A rustle behind him has Lance quickly turning, eyes widening when he sees Shiro come out from behind a monochrome tree, gaze locked on him placidly. Smiling, Lance holds out his hands to him and the heart shard floats away from him and into the left side of Shiro's chest. Covering it, Shiro's face contorts at the sensation.

Lance feels his smile widen in excitement.  _I actually did it. Now I'm_ actually  _Prince Rain!_

"Shiro!" a voice calls, startling Lance into running away.

"Shiro!" cries Keith, walking out of the trees just in time to see Shiro losing his balance and he runs to catch him safely before he can collapse on the ground. "Shiro, what happened?" he asks, holding him up.

"What is this feeling?" Shiro breathes constrainedly, brows furrowed and eyes still locked on the direction the mysterious figure in blue ran off in.

Keith's eyebrow fly up. "Feeling?" And then his eyes find where Shiro's hands are shielding his heart.

~

"Now then, before you're all dismissed I'll announce the results of our little 'challenge' we had this morning," Mr. Cat declares just before class ends. Everyone waits with anticipation. "The special class... will consist of the same five students as before."

The rest of the class separates from said five people to put them in the spotlight as they all applaud in congratulations. Allura stands with her head down and that same modest smile on her face as her peers smile, nod, and wave at the clapping.

"And Miss Anteaterina?" he addresses her.

She lifts her head from where it was bowed in humility. "Yes?"

"Your performance was quite fine as well, but the decision is to wait and see for now."

"Yes, sir." Her eyes sparkle with newfound understanding and rekindled respect as she looks at her ex-rival. "I've decided to stop copying Allura and find my own way of dancing."

"I look forward to seeing it," Mr. Cat encourages, pleased. Then his eyes slip closed as he looks down. "And Mr. McClain?"

Lance stands straight and alert. "Yes?"

"Your performance was also quite fine," Mr. Cat begins, making Lance brighten. "However! You owe it all to Allura."

Lance's heart sinks and there are a few frowns in the room. The biggest being Hunk and Pidge's but the most indignant are Allura's and surprisingly, Keith's. Lance is blind to all of them though and his face falls in tandem with his shoulders and eyes, staring unseeingly at the floor.

"Thus," Mr. Cat goes on, "You are hereby assigned to the probationary class!" he finishes with a smug smile.

Lance's heart drops out the bottom of his feet and six feet into the ground as tears well up in his eyes. Very softly, going unnoticed by everyone, even the eyes of Mr. Wimbleton backstage, Lance's pendant begins to glow.

Hunk has his mouth open already to protest and placate, but a different voice cuts him off before he can, "You can't do that."

The entire class turns to stare at Keith.

Lance slowly looks up from the ground, tears shimmering where they're ready to fall at the corners of his eyes.

"Excuse me, Mr. Kogane?" Mr. Cat raises a brow. "This is my class, I can assign my students wherever I want."

"I guess," Keith concedes, stare hard and flinty where it locks on the teacher, only just this side of a glare. "But your reasoning is unfair."

"My reasoning?"

"Of course Allura is the more skilled dancer," A lance, right through Lance's heart, oh the irony. "She's in the special class for a reason, but Lance doesn't 'owe her' his great performance."

Lance's head snaps up.  _Did_ Keith  _just compliment him?_

"Yes, she had to lead him in the dance, but with the small amount of time you gave them until they actually had to dance that was the only feasible option. And Allura had to be the one to decide the moves because, again, she's the more experienced dancer. And she was the one who was challenged anyway, it wouldn't have been fair for her to win with a dance of Lance's." Lance blushes at Keith's unintentional insinuation that a dance of his, him,  _Lance_ , not Prince Rain, would win against a talented dancer like Anteaterina. "And even though it was Allura's dance, Lance still let his personality shine through the moves."

"I agree," The class turns from Keith, to  _Allura_. "I did prompt him with small directions on what he should do next during our performance, and not only did he follow them, he made the moves his own." She smiles. "I thought his ballet was rather refreshing and I had a lot of fun dancing with him."

Lance makes a faint strangled sound but it's covered up by Hunk's boisterous, "Yeah! It was tons of fun watching him too!" The whole class makes agreeing noises.

Pidge nods as well and pushes her glasses up her nose. "Lance's enjoyment was clearly conveyed, a very important thing in ballet, expressing emotions,  _and_ it had an empathetic effect on his audience." She gestures around at her classmates who, to Lance's astonishment, are  _coming to his defense_. "The technique was a bit wobbly, I'll admit, but we are still learning after all." Her lenses glint in challenge.

A challenge their whole class is rallying behind.

In face of it, Mr. Cat can only sigh in defeat. "I suppose my decision was a bit hasty. Mr. McClain," Lance perks up. "You may stay in the regular class."

His classmates cheer and Lance  _beams_.

On his sternum, Lance's pendant winks victoriously before dimming until it's back to normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always hated the decision Mr. Cat originally made and I've been _itching_ to write the argument Keith and Allura make. I'M HISSING AND SPITTING RIGHT BACK AT'CHA _MR. CAT!_ Duck was still learning of course she's gonna follow direction from a more experienced dancer and that should've been encouraged while still putting importance on developing her own style lIKE WITH WHAT HAPPENED WITH ANTEATERINA but instead he punishes her??? wHAT KIND OF BULLSHIT-?!?! I fully believe he only did that to spite her for all the open distaste she displayed for marrying him, which, since that was his reaction, I don't blame her one bit.
> 
> Also, the switching back and forth from Lance's actual name to his title when he's Prince Rain is very intentional. When he's acting more from his heart I use his actual name.
> 
> And another thing, if you haven't been, I highly encourage you to look up the ballet terms if you don't understand them when you find them, preferably on YouTube. I used the proper names for them because just describing the movements wouldn't do them justice and I wanted you guys to have the actual terms so you can _see_ what I'm talking about when you look up the videos. Of course, these are all the same dance moves that are in the anime because I have no imagination when it comes to ballet with the limited knowledge I have on it, but still.
> 
> Please, come talk to me, debate with me about whether or not you think ironing your shirt is a good idea or whatever, just come say words, https://fantasypunchpunk.tumblr.com/
> 
> The characters of Voltron: Legendary Defender belong to Dreamworks and in no way are mine, I just wanted to borrow them for a bit.


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